Historical Marker
Joseph Blancpain's French Trading Post
Wallisville, Chambers County · Texas
Erected 1986
What alarmed Spain was Blancpain's inventory. When Lieutenant Marcos Ruiz caught him in 1754, the goods included firearms, which Blancpain meant to trade to the Orcoquiza and Attacapa for horses. He said Louisiana's governor had licensed him. His diary persuaded Mexico City officials that he served the French crown. Soldiers divided his stock among themselves and gave his huts to the Orcoquiza chief Calzones Colorados. Blancpain died in prison, and his companions were sent to Cadiz to be held for life. Madrid ordered that any Frenchman found in its territory without a permit be shipped to South America.
What the plaque says
Joseph Blancpain's French Trading Post French trader Joseph Blancpain established a trading post in this vicinity in August 1754. He had been living in Natchitoches, Louisiana, where he was the owner of a mercantile store. With a small group of men, Blancpain arrived in August and soon opened trade with the Atakapan and related Indian tribes of this region. He had entered Spanish territory, and the Spanish soon received word of his presence. The Spanish governor ordered a detachment of soldiers to arrest the French. Aided by the Bidai Indians, the Spaniards located the settlement and attacked on October 10. The Frenchmen were imprisoned in Mexico City, where authorities concluded that Blancpain was an agent of the French government. He died in prison in Mexico on March 14, 1756, and the other members of his party were imprisoned in Spain for life. The Spanish established Presidio San Augustin de Ahumada and Mission Nuestra Senora de la Luz on the site of Blancpain's trading post. The complex was destroyed in a 1766 hurricane. One hundred years later the archeological remains of both the French and Spanish settlements were uncovered and were later entered in the National Register of Historic Places. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
Where it stands
29.83836, -94.73633 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site — 22 miThe 1,200 acres of coastal prairie and marsh where the Texas Revolution ended in eighteen minutes, and the 567-foot shaft of fossil-studded limestone that has stood over them since 1939.
- Space Center Houston — 29 miThe visitor center of NASA's Johnson Space Center at Clear Lake, with flown capsules, a shuttle replica riding a 747, and tram tours to Mission Control and a Saturn V.